Secret Service agent remembers JFK assassination – Part I

By JEFF MEEK / Managing editor

Tuesday

Feb 20, 2018 at 12:01 AM

Many of you readers know I’m a history buff, so when I had the opportunity to meet former Secret Service agent Mike Howard, I drove to Texas for an interview at his ranch north of Dallas. Howard recalled for me one of America’s darkest days – the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Howard was the advance agent in Fort Worth on Nov. 21 and the morning of Nov. 22, he was in the room when suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was interrogated and later protected Oswald’s family for a week following the assassination.After graduating college and serving in Korea, Howard got a call from the Secret Service office in 1960. “I had no idea what they wanted with me,” said Howard who was about to finish a law degree. He took exams, filled out an application in May and on July 1, 1960, was sworn in.Howard vividly remembered his first assignment just 10 days on the job. Because no one would recognize him he was put undercover to help catch a counterfeiter, which they did in just three days, red-handed with cash and printing plates in his possession.We then jumped ahead to the weekend of Nov. 21-22, 1963, for his memories of that fateful Kennedy visit. The Democratic Party had scheduled five stops in Texas for that weekend, which included an overnight stop in Fort Worth on Nov. 21. At approximately 11 p.m. that night the president’s plane arrived at Carswell Air Force Base. “I was there to meet the plane because I was on the advance team,” Howard said. He and others traveled with the motorcade to the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth through streets lined with people, despite a driving rain. The crowd was yelling “Jackie, Jackie,” and because of all the cheering she rolled down her window to wave at the crowds. President Kennedy then did the same.By the time they arrived at the hotel the President, First Lady and the agents were soaked. JFK and Jackie settled in for the night while agents prepped for the upcoming morning breakfast on Nov. 22.During his advance work, Howard had investigated approximately 30 people who had made some kind of threatening comment. He told me they came up with whatever reason they could dream up to put some of them in jail during the visit. Many of them disliked Kennedy solely because he was Catholic. “Some of them made the crack that they ought to kill that SOB,” said Howard. Of those 30, some ended up in jail and others tailed by agents and police.Howard was up at 4 a.m. on Nov. 22 checking out the breakfast hall, other rooms, exits, the fire escape and elsewhere to be sure all was safe for JFK. He was told to lead the Kennedy entourage out of the hotel to an awaiting flatbed truck where Kennedy would give a short speech to a crowd assembled outside. Thereafter Kennedy went back to his room, then off to the breakfast gathering. Howard was stationed in front of and below the speakers’ table that was up on a stage.Kennedy had begun his speech when suddenly Jackie walked in and the place went crazy. “It was bedlam. Many of the women were standing on their chairs to get a look at Jackie to see what she was wearing,” Howard said.After the breakfast Howard and others took the presidential party back to Carswell AFB for the short flight to Dallas. Howard said he had deputized hundreds of police officers to provide security, covering every street corner, overpass, intersection and other locations along the route. While going down Hwy. 377, there were many children and a couple of teachers along the road. Mrs. Kennedy had the car stopped so she and the president could get out and meet them.Once the flight was on its way, Howard and the others returned to the Texas Hotel where he and another agent did a “sweep” of the presidential suite. A sweep picks up everything that is loose in the room so nothing is left behind for souvenir seekers. To do this, two Secret Service agents circle the room in opposite directions over and over in a tighter and tighter circle until they meet in the middle of the room. Then everything is put in trash bags and taken away.JFK had three televisions in the room so he could watch ABC, CBS and NBC. Just as Howard was about to leave the room he heard the TV say “shots fired in Dallas.” “We immediately went downstairs and jumped in the first (official) car we could find,” Howard said. As fast as they could, they drove to Dallas. I asked Howard what his first thoughts were. “It was the worst thing in the world. We thought, my gosh I hope it was a firecracker,” he said.The two-way radio was on in the sheriff’s car and it was then he heard the motorcade was going to Parkland Hospital and that “we’ve been hit.” “When they say we’ve been hit, that means the president has been hit,” Howard said.He and the others arrived at Parkland where he saw Dallas P.D. officers with pistols in their hands. He and other agents entered the hospital and spread out. He asked one of the agents (perhaps Jack Ready) how Kennedy was doing. “It’s bad, he’s really hit,” said the agent to Howard.A few minutes later it was announced Kennedy was dead. Aide Kenneth O’Donnell told now-President Lyndon B. Johnson he was now the President. Howard said LBJ came out of the room holding his shoulder, likely because his Secret Service agent Rufus Youngblood pounced on him in the car during the shooting.Next the casket was loaded and started to be removed, which created a scuffle. Dallas County Medical Examiner Dr. Earl Rose insisted that the body stay there for autopsy. The Kennedy entourage would have none of it. After a confrontation the body was taken to Air Force One at Love Field. Howard watched as the casket, LBJ and others boarded the plane. “I was at the base of the stairs,” he said.Soon Howard recognized Federal Judge Sarah Hughes who had come to officially swear-in Johnson. “I had cases in her court before, so I knew who she was,” Howard said. After the planes left for Washington, D.C., Howard was told to return to Fort Worth to interview a suspect.The suspect had been seen at a filling station with a rifle and scope in the backseat of his vehicle. Police found him and took him in for questioning. They were getting little information from him until Howard arrived. He entered the interrogation room and sat down in front of him. The man said the rifle was his father’s and he had gotten it from a repair shop. While at the store he decided to purchase a shotgun, thus the guns in the car. Howard asked him what he was doing in Dallas. “He said none of your business,” Howard said. At that point an exhausted Howard had enough of the cocky suspect, pulled his revolver, cocked the hammer back and convinced the man it would be in his best interest to talk, which he did. Turns out the suspect had picked up a girl in Dallas and spent the night in a hotel. Thereafter the man was released.Part II of the story comes next week when Howard goes back to Dallas, gets in on the interrogation of Oswald and protects the Oswald family on orders from President Johnson.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.